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If one of the pools collapsed or caught fire, it could have severe adverse impacts not only on Japan … but the rest of the world, including the United States. Indeed, a Senator called it a national security concern for the U.S.:

The radiation caused by the failure of the spent fuel pools in the event of another earthquake could reach the West Coast within days. That absolutely makes the safe containment and protection of this spent fuel a security issue for the United States.

Nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen and physician Helen Caldicott have both said that people should evacuate the Northern Hemisphere if one of the Fukushima fuel pools collapses. Gundersen said:

Move south of the equator if that ever happened, I think that’s probably the lesson there.

Thousands of workers and a small fleet of cranes are preparing for one of the latest efforts to avoid a deepening environmental disaster that has China and other neighbors increasingly worried: removing spent fuel rods from the damaged No. 4 reactor building and storing them in a safer place.

Tom Snitch, a senior professor at the University of Maryland and with more than 30 years’ experience in nuclear issues, said “[Japan officials] need to address the real problems, the spent fuel rods in Unit 4 and the leaking pressure vessels,” he said. “There has been too much work done wiping down walls and duct work in the reactors for any other reason then to do something…. This is a critical global issue and Japan must step up.”

In November, Tepco plans to begin the delicate operation of removing spent fuel from Reactor No. 4 [with] radiation equivalent to 14,000 times the amount released by the Hiroshima atomic bomb. …. It remains vulnerable to any further shocks, and is also at risk from ground liquefaction. Removing its spent fuel, which contains deadly plutonium, is an urgent task…. The consequences could be far more severe than any nuclear accident the world has ever seen. If a fuel rod is dropped, breaks or becomes entangled while being removed, possible worst case scenarios include a big explosion, a meltdown in the pool, or a large fire. Any of these situations could lead to massive releases of deadly radionuclides into the atmosphere, putting much of Japan — including Tokyo and Yokohama — and even neighboring countries at serious risk.

The radioactive leak at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant is far from under control and could get a lot worse, a nuclear energy expert, who compiles the annual “World Nuclear Industry Status Report” warned.

***

The big danger – and it was identified by Japan’s atomic energy commission – is if you lose water in one of the spent fuel pools and you get a spent fuel fire.

[Mycle Schneider, nuclear consultant:] The situation could still get a lot worse. A massive spent fuel fire would likely dwarf the current dimensions of the catastrophe and could exceed the radioactivity releases of Chernobyl dozens of times. First, the pool walls could leak beyond the capacity to deliver cooling water or a reactor building could collapse following one of the hundred of aftershocks. Then, the fuel cladding could ignite spontaneously releasing its entire radioactive inventory.

The operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is preparing to remove 400 tons of highly irradiated spent fuel from a damaged reactor building, a dangerous operation that has never been attempted before on this scale.

Containing radiation equivalent to 14,000 times the amount released in the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima 68 years ago, more than 1,300 used fuel rod assemblies packed tightly together need to be removed from a building that is vulnerable to collapse, should another large earthquake hit the area.

Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) is already in a losing battle to stop radioactive water overflowing from another part of the facility, and experts question whether it will be able to pull off the removal of all the assemblies successfully.

“They are going to have difficulty in removing a significant number of the rods,” said Arnie Gundersen, a veteran U.S. nuclear engineer and director of Fairewinds Energy Education, who used to build fuel assemblies.

The operation, beginning this November at the plant’s Reactor No. 4, is fraught with danger, including the possibility of a large release of radiation if a fuel assembly breaks, gets stuck or gets too close to an adjacent bundle, said Gundersen and other nuclear experts.

That could lead to a worse disaster than the March 2011 nuclear crisis at the Fukushima plant, the world’s most serious since Chernobyl in 1986.

No one knows how bad it can get, but independent consultants Mycle Schneider and Antony Froggatt said recently in their World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2013: “Full release from the Unit-4 spent fuel pool, without any containment or control, could cause by far the most serious radiological disaster to date.”

***

The utility says it recognizes the operation will be difficult but believes it can carry it out safely.

Nonetheless, Tepco inspires little confidence. Sharply criticized for failing to protect the Fukushima plant against natural disasters, its handling of the crisis since then has also been lambasted.

***

The process will begin in November and Tepco expects to take about a year removing the assemblies, spokesman Yoshikazu Nagai told Reuters by e-mail. It’s just one installment in the decommissioning process for the plant forecast to take about 40 years and cost $11 billion.

Each fuel rod assembly weighs about 300 kilograms (660 pounds) and is 4.5 meters (15 feet) long. There are 1,331 of the spent fuel assemblies and a further 202 unused assemblies are also stored in the pool, Nagai said.

***

Spent fuel rods also contain plutonium, one of the most toxic substances in the universe, that gets formed during the later stages of a reactor core’s operation.

***

“There is a risk of an inadvertent criticality if the bundles are distorted and get too close to each other,” Gundersen said.

He was referring to an atomic chain reaction that left unchecked could result in a large release of radiation and heat that the fuel pool cooling system isn’t designed to absorb.

“The problem with a fuel pool criticality is that you can’t stop it. There are no control rods to control it,” Gundersen said. “The spent fuel pool cooling system is designed only to remove decay heat, not heat from an ongoing nuclear reaction.”

Tepco has shored up the building, which may have tilted and was bulging after the explosion, a source of global concern that has been raised in the U.S. Congress.

***

The fuel assemblies have to be first pulled from the racks they are stored in, then inserted into a heavy steel chamber. This operation takes place under water before the chamber, which shields the radiation pulsating from the rods, can be removed from the pool and lowered to ground level.

The chamber is then transported to the plant’s common storage pool in an undamaged building where the assemblies will be stored.

Tepco confirmed the Reactor No. 4 fuel pool contains debris during an investigation into the chamber earlier this month.

Removing the rods from the pool is a delicate task normally assisted by computers, according to Toshio Kimura, a former Tepco technician, who worked at Fukushima Daiichi for 11 years.

“Previously it was a computer-controlled process that memorized the exact locations of the rods down to the millimeter and now they don’t have that. It has to be done manually so there is a high risk that they will drop and break one of the fuel rods,” Kimura said.

***

Corrosion from the salt water will have also weakened the building and equipment, he said.

And if an another strong earthquake strikes before the fuel is fully removed that topples the building or punctures the pool and allow the water to drain, a spent fuel fire releasing more radiation than during the initial disaster is possible, threatening about Tokyo 200 kilometers (125 miles) away.

Richard Tanter, expert on nuclear power issues and professor of international relations at the University of Melbourne:

***

Reactor Unit 4, the one which has a very large amount of stored fuel in its fuel storage pool, that is sinking. According to former prime Minister Kan Naoto, that has sunk some 31 inches in places and it’s not uneven. This is really not surprising given what’s happened in terms of pumping of water, the aftermath of the earthquake and the tsunami, the continuing infusions of water into the groundwater area. This is an immediate problem, and if it is not resolved there is an extraordinary possibility we really could be back at March 2011 again because of the possibility of a fission accident in that spent fuel pond in Unit No. 4.

Mitsuhei Murata, a former Japanese ambassador to Switzerland has officially called for the withdrawalof Tokyo’s Olympic bid, due to the worsening crisis at Fukushima, which experts believe is not limited to storage tanks, but also potential cracks in the walls of the spent nuclear fuel pools.

Japan: Tepco bailout

TEPCO, the mega-utility with about 49,000 employees that owns the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear powerplant where three reactors have melted down, and whose lackadaisical handling of the fiasco has been a fiasco in itself, has already been bailed out with taxpayer money shortly after the disaster.

And it’s getting more open-ended taxpayer support as the government decided to step in and deal itself with the problem of highly radioactive groundwater that is leaking into the ocean at a rate of 300 tons per day, according to the latest estimates. But now the government said: let’s not hurt the investors!

The technologies for dealing with the groundwater contamination have yet to be invented. One of the measures bandied about is to install giant refrigeration equipment to freeze the soil around the reactor and turbine buildings; it would stop the oncoming groundwater from surging into the buildings. Realistic or not, the costs are enormous and mounting. So the government decided last month that the taxpayer will pick up the tab. Now the question is being debated if TEPCO, in return, should go into bankruptcy and be liquidated.

In such a scenario, the operating company might be taken over by the government. Stockholders and bondholders would get to fight over their then mostly worthless scraps in court. It would be logical: Taxpayers fund the endless costs of the cleanup – the latest plan estimated decommissioning the plant, assuming it doesn’t blow up first, would take 40 years. In return, they’d benefit from future profits of TEPCO’s vast non-Fukushima operations.

Those profits are substantial: for its first quarter, ending June 30, the company reported a profit of ¥438 billion ($4.3 billion), up from a loss of ¥288 billion in the quarter a year ago. Revenues jumped 9.8% to ¥1.44 trillion after the company had jacked up its electricity rates. These profits over time would allow taxpayers to recoup part of the cleanup, mitigation, and decommissioning costs.

But Industry Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, who heads the government’s task force that has been put in charge last month of the groundwater cleanup efforts, told the Asahi Shimbun that TEPCO should not be liquidated. In other words, the institutions holding these otherwise toxic bonds and worthless shares should be bailed out again, and forever, particularly the sacrosanct bondholders, at the expense of taxpayers. He, who should be the representative of those who elected him, has now revealed himself to be a lobbyist for TEPCO and its institutional investors.

To support his position, he was fear-mongering where he thought it would hurt the most: “If TEPCO is liquidated, there is a possibility that the right of victims of the nuclear accident to receive compensation will not be met,” he said. Spurious, since the government, as part of its original bailout, decided to fund most of those claims because TEPCO couldn’t or wouldn’t meet them.

And he threatened, also spuriously, that “companies engaged in the solution of the various problems resulting from the disaster” – the whole process is already mired in allegations of mismanagement, negligence, and corruption – “will not be able to receive payment for their work.” OK, some contractors might have trouble collecting on their most recent invoices, though that could be solved too. But he forgot to mention that the new operating company, post-liquidation, whoever owned it, would continue the cleanup operations and pay contractors.

“There would be big adverse effects,” was his omnibus warning. Indeed, there would be, but for bondholders and stockholders. And as if that weren’t enough, he added for good measure, “Besides, the supply of electricity could become unstable.”

I mean, come on! The bankruptcy of a utility doesn’t impact the generation and distribution of electricity – see TXU, the mega-utility in Texas, for example. That comment was one more data point in how the Abe administration, a great proponent of the nuclear industry and of Japan Inc. in general, is trying by hook or crook, and even by convoluted fear mongering, to restore the nuclear industry’s mantle of invulnerability.

Reprinted from the Japan Times

Dear Minister of Education Hakubun Shimomura, Shimomura to the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and phaseI use the words "in principle" because in April of this year I was forced to make one of the most difficult decisions of my teaching career at the tertiary level: I was forced to recommend to the university authorities where I was employed that they postpone their planned Study Abroad Program in Japan scheduled for the fall of 2013.We used to the word "in principle". April this year, was faced with the most difficult decision in higher teacher life of my own. the university authorities that I have been hired, and was forced to postpone the recommendation of "study abroad program in Japan" was planned in the fall of 2013.While I deeply regretted this recommendation, I honestly felt that in good conscience I had no choice. That is to say, in March 2013 I attended a two-day Fukushima-related medical seminar at the New York Academy of Sciences where I learned, for the first time, the full scope of the ongoing dangers posed by radiation contamination from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.This recommendation itself, I think very sorry. However, against my parents, there was no other choice for me. In March 2013, in the New York Academy of Medicine, I took part in a medical seminar in Fukushima-related two-day.And for the first time, I was able to learn the whole picture about the dangers of progress by radioactive contamination from the Fukushima Daiichi.(Translator's Note:. Speaker from Japan was Matsumura Akio and Mr. Sakiyama ratio Hayako's, but the big two of them did not mention the health damage caused by the Fukushima accident So, the second day probably the person this I think he was able to hear was done in lunch meeting, the health damage reports from Japan. Hashimoto Yurika who spoke thyroid abnormalities that can be seen from the outside Kawai Katsuko's, children who spoke the rubble incineration problem, ~ We have a story of health damage I also son and myself including ... had little worth that you have made ​​in the Jibarahttp://savekidsjapan.blogspot.jp/2013_06_01_archive.html Http://Savekidsjapan .blogspot.jp/2013/04/ny-symposium-on-fukushimany.html )This knowledge was compounded by the fact that, upon returning to my home in Yellow Springs, Ohio, I was contacted by a 2012 Study Abroad Program participant who informed me that she had suffered from such symptoms as vomiting, nosebleeds and recurring headaches, all symptoms typically associated with radiation contamination. I was forced to take action.When I go back to the home of Yellow Springs Ohio from study abroad program in 2012, one participant has had manifestations similar to knowledge acquired at this time. It was the typical symptoms associated with vomiting, nosebleeds, persistent headache, and radiation pollution. I could not help without action.True, the student in question made ​​a personal choice to visit the Tohoku region during the individual research period that was part of the Study Abroad Program. Thus, one reasonable response would have been to forbid 2013 students from traveling anywhere north of Tokyo. As I Considered this option, However, I Could not Recall but the warnings Given by nuclear and medical Experts both inside and outside of p Concerning the danger of additional major radiation contamination coming from Fukushima No. 1. THUS, I Regretfully Came to the conclusion That I could not expose students, especially female students of childbearing age, to the possible danger of radiation contamination, and informed the university accordingly.In fact, in this study abroad program, a period of personal study, the students had to choose a place visit the Northeast. I thought that such, in the study in 2013, that the visit to the north of Tokyo forbid and answering it with muscle.And when you think about this choice, for a new risk of radiation contamination coming from Fukushima Daiichi, it did not help but recall the warning from medical experts and nuclear power other than Japan.By such, reached the conclusion that it is not possible to make exposed to the risk of radioactivity not be able to be exposed to students, the female students of age to breed in particular, I told the university to that effect unfortunately .Sadly, in the ensuing months the situation at Fukushima No. 1 has only worsened. Only recently Tepco finally admitted that 2.35 billion becquerels of cesium per liter of water, roughly the same as that measured right after the crisis began in spring 2011, has accumulated in groundwater tested around Fukushima No. 1, from where it then seeps into the ocean. Unfortunately, then, Fukushima Daiichi is deteriorating. Cesium of 2.35 billion becquerels per liter concentration of roughly the same after the accident has accumulated in the basement of the Fukushima Dai-ichi, TEPCO announced that flows out to sea barely recently.Needless to say, this amount of radiation is Millions of times higher than p's acceptable limit. With this radiation Now Spewing uncontrolled into the Ocean, it is no longer simply Possible to Avoid the danger by not Traveling to the Fukushima area.Needless to say, millions of times the acceptable amount of radioactivity is. It is not a risk if picture Cirno flows out to sea radioactivity such without being control, that is avoided if you do not just visit to Fukushima.That is to say, fish are swimming in an ever more heavily contaminated environment where radiation bio-accumulates in the seafood. Thus the largest fish, which eat the most, often live the longest and swim great distances, become the most contaminated, and it is simply impossible for the Japanese government, or any government, to check every fish caught to ensure its safety.In other words, since the bioaccumulation occurs in seafood, fish are swimming in the situation that has been heavily polluted further. So we eat most often, a large fish swim long distances to live long, becomes the thing that is most polluted. Also other governments in Japan government, to make sure safety to catch the fish is not possible for all.Another solution I seriously considered was for 2013 program students to become vegetarians while in Japan. However, to my dismay I recently learned, from an article published by the Fukushima Minpo newspaper on Jan. 24, that the Japanese government plans to purchase contaminated rice grown in Fukushima Prefecture (providing it contains less than 100 becquerels / kg) and later sell it nationwide.In the program of 2013, while in Japan, I was thinking seriously, it was that you have become a vegetarian students. However, according to the Fukushima people information on the 24th January, and was disappointed, that it is planning to purchase the contaminated rice Japanese government has been grown in Fukushima Prefecture (subject to the 100Bq/kg below), to sell across the country was.I fully realize, Minister Shimomura, that you are not in charge of decisions related to Fukushima No. 1. But as a Cabinet minister, l appeal to you to add your voice to those demanding that effective measures be taken immediately.Shimomura minister, I have proposed that that you are not the decision makers at the Fukushima Daiichi related. However, I think as ministers, and want to go seeking to take the urgent measures that run power.

One eminently reasonable proposal is for the Japanese government to take complete responsibility for the clean-up operation, given Tepco's demonstrated incompetence. Then, calling on the best expertise from throughout the world, all effective measures, regardless of cost, should be taken to completely stop additional radiation from the disaster contaminating the environment.The proposal clearly appropriate to the Japanese government, is that the government, to the decontamination work on behalf of the TEPCO that was lacking in ability. It is to keep completely release to the environment of radioactivity is carried from it, and called on expert most qualified from all over the world, regardless of the cost effective measures of all, arising from the disaster.Needless to say, These Measures SHOULD be taken first and Foremost to protect the English People Themselves. But, Additionally, this would allow educators Like myself to once again recommend, in good Conscience, That Foreign students Study in p. I long for That day to come.Needless to say, these measures, precisely in order to protect the people of Japan, should be taken first.And, we are able to allow students to education who has a conscience like me by doing so is, to a study in Japan. I hope that such a day will come.BRIAN VICTORIA Yellow Springs, Ohio

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency used an unmanned helicopter to crack a missing piece of the puzzle regarding radiation contamination close to the wrecked Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

It has finally come up with the first detailed study of radiation levels within a 3-kilometer radius of the center of the plant. The zone has been inaccessible to scientists because of the three reactor meltdowns triggered by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster.

The JAEA measured radiation levels within 3 km of the stricken plant between August and October last year, and detected readings of more than 19 microsieverts per hour south and west of the nuclear plant.

The government-affiliated research body said radiation levels remained relatively high northwest of the facility as well.

It also investigated radiation levels above ground within an 80-km radius of the plant, and found that the extent of contamination has fallen 36 percent from a previous survey.

Saturday, 28 September 2013

On September 7, 2013 Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said to the 125th session of the International Olympic Committee, the following:

Some may have concerns about Fukushima. Let me assure you, the situation is under control. It has never done and will never do any damage to Tokyo.

This will surely be remembered as one of the great lies of modern times. In Japan some people call it the “Abesolute Lie”. Believing it, the IOC decided to bring the 2020 Olympics to Tokyo.

Japanese government spokespersons defend Abe’s statement by saying that radiation levels in the Pacific Ocean have not yet exceeded safety standards.

This recalls the old story of the man who jumped off a ten-storey building and, as he passed each storey, could be heard saying, “So far, so good”.

We are talking, remember, about the Pacific Ocean – the greatest body of water on earth, and for all we know, in the universe. Tokyo Electric Power Company – TEPCO – has been pouring water through its melted-down reactor at Fukushima and into the ocean for two and a half years, and so far the Pacific Ocean has been able to dilute that down to below the safety standard. So far so good. But there is no prospect in sight of turning off the water.

Here are eight things you need to know.

1. In a residential area park in Tokyo, 230 km from Fukushima, the soil was found to have a radiation level of 92,335 Becquerels per square meter. This is a dangerous level, comparable to what is found around Chernobyl ④ zone (the site of a nuclear catastrophe in 1986). One reason this level of pollution is found in the capital is that between Tokyo and Fukushima there are no mountains high enough to block radioactive clouds. In the capital people who understand the danger absolutely avoid eating food produced in eastern Japan.

2. Inside Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Reactors #1 – #3 the pipes (which had circulated cooling water) are broken, which caused a meltdown. This means the nuclear fuel overheated, melted, and continued to melt anything it touched. Thus it melted through the bottom of the reactor, and then through the concrete floor of the building, and sank into the ground. As mentioned above, for two and a half years TEPCO workers have been desperately pouring water into the reactor, but it is not known whether the water is actually reaching the melted fuel. If a middle-strength earthquake comes, it is likely to destroy totally the already damaged building. And as a matter of fact, in the last two and a half years earthquakes have continued to hit Fukushima. (And as an additional matter of fact, just as this letter was being written Fukushima was hit by another middle-strength earthquake, but it seems that the building held up one more time. So far so good.) Especially dangerous is Reactor #4, where a large amount of nuclear fuel is being held in a pool, like another disaster waiting for its moment.

3. The cooling water being poured into the reactor is now considered the big problem in Japan. Newspapers and TV stations that previously strove to conceal the danger of nuclear power, are now reporting on this danger every day, and criticizing Shinzo Abe for the lie he told the IOC. The issue is that the highly irradiated water is entering and mixing with the ground water, and this leakage can’t be stopped, so it is spilling into the outer ocean. It is a situation impossible to control. In August, 2013 (the month prior to Abe’s IOC speech) within the site of Fukushima Daiichi Reactor, radiation was measured at 8500 micro Sieverts per hour. That is enough to kill anyone who stayed there for a month. This makes it a very hard place for the workers to get anything done. In Ohkuma-machi, the town where the Daiichi Nuclear Reactor is located, the radiation was measured in July, 2013 (two months before Abe’s talk) at 320 micro Sieverts per hour. This level of radiation would kill a person in two and a half years. Thus, over an area many kilometers wide, ghost towns are increasing.

4. For the sake of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, an important fact has been left out from reports that go abroad. Only the fact that irradiated water is leaking onto the surface of the ground around the reactor is reported. But deep under the surface the ground water is also being irradiated, and the ground water flows out to sea and mixes with the seawater through sea-bottom springs. It is too late to do anything about this.

5. If you go to the big central fish market near Tokyo and measure the radiation in the air, it registers at about 0.05 micro Sieverts – a little higher than normal level. But if you measure the radiation near the place where the instrument that measures the radiation of the fish is located, the level is two or three times greater (2013 measurement). Vegetables and fish from around the Tokyo area, even if they are irradiated, are not thrown away. This is because the level established by the Japanese Government for permissible radiation in food – which if exceeded the food must not be sold – is the same as the permissible level of radiation in low-level radioactive wastes. Which is to say, in Japan today, as the entire country has been contaminated, we have no choice but to put irradiated garbage on the dinner table. The distribution of irradiated food is also a problem. Food from near Fukushima will be sent to another prefecture, and then sent on, relabeled as produced in the second prefecture. In particular, food distributed by the major food companies, and food served in expensive restaurants, is almost never tested for radiation.

6. In Japan, the only radiation from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Reactors that is being measured is the radioactive cesium. However large amounts of strontium 90 and tritium are spreading all over Japan. Strontium and tritium’s radiation consists of beta rays, and are very difficult to measure. However both are extremely dangerous: strontium can cause leukemia, and tritium can cause chromosome disorder.

7. More dangerous still: in order, they say, to get rid of the pollution that has fallen over the wide area of Eastern Japan, they are scraping off the top layer of the soil, and putting it in plastic bags as garbage. Great mountains of these plastic bags, all weather-beaten, are sitting in fields in Eastern Japan subject of course to attack by heavy rain and typhoons. Eventually the plastic will split open and the contents will come spilling out. When that happens, there will be no place left to take them.

8. On 21 September, 2013 (again, as this letter was being composed) the newspaper Tokyo Shimbun reported that Tokyo Governor Naoki Inose said at a press conference that what Abe expressed to the IOC was his intention to get the situation under control. “It is not,” Inose said, “under control now.”

It’s a sad story, but this is the present situation of Japan and of Tokyo. I had loved the Japanese food and this land until the Fukushima accident occurred. But now…

As early as autumn 1990, the Belarussian psychiatrist Kondrashenko (Minsk) warned of the effects of the catastrophe on the central nervous system. He reported on organic changes to the brain amongst people exposed to radiation.[28] Decade-old reports exist on damage to nerves and senses as well as on headaches suffered by villagers living in the vicinity of the nuclear weapons testing areas of Semipalatinsk (Kazakhstan). This information was not taken seriously in the West. Instead, in the aftermath of Chernobyl, the phenomenon of “radiophobia”[29] was invented, insinuating that many of the health problems that arose in the aftermath of Chernobyl were not due to radiation, but to an unfounded hysterical reaction in the population.[30]

Investigations carried out by Nadejda Gulaya, of the Pallaguin Institute for Biochemistry in Kiev, on nerve cells from both humans and animals in the Chernobyl region, show that the main cause of observed damage to the nervous system is much less due to the fear of radiation but actually caused by serious organic radiation damage.[31]

48 percent of the post-mortems carried out on liquidators who have since died show that death was due to a blood clot or problems with the blood circulation. Cancer, at a rate of 28 percent, takes only second place as cause of death. Barely 20,000 of the Red Army soldiers ordered into the clean-up areas are taking part in treatment or research programs. Most of them are seriously ill, both psychologically and physically. They are finding it difficult to deal with their traumatic experiences.[32]

Andreas Arnold from the ENT clinic at the Universitäts-Inselspitals in Bern came to the conclusion that symptoms of dizziness suffered by many liquidators were due to lesions in the central nervous system.[33]

A lot of drivers had to give up their jobs following deployment as liquidators because they kept going to sleep at the wheel.[34]

Thursday, 26 September 2013

The Fires in Spent Fuel Pool Number 4, Fukushima-Diiachi
The Japan Atomic Industry Forum at http://www.jaif.or.jp/english/fukushima/plantstatus201103.html provides links to its “Reactor Status and Major Events Update – NPPs in Fukushima (Estimated by JAIF) March 2011&#8243;. Earliest date provided being Update Number 2, Tuesday March 15 2011 at 10.30 hours.

This status update states that Reactor 4 is “safe”. This report notes the evacuation zone is 20 kms from the NPP.

[b]Status update 3 of 13:00 hours 15 March 2011 states that the evacuation zone is “Evacuation Area 20km from NPS * People who live between 20km to 30km from the Fukushima #1NPS are to stay indoors.”

The update reports also notes that “Remarks: Fire broke (out) on the 4th floor of the Unit-4 Reactor Building around 6AM and the radiation monitor readings increased outside of the building:

It is estimated that the spent fuels stored in the spent fuel pit heated and hydrogen was generated from these fuels, resulting in the explosion. TEPCO later announced the fire had been extinguished.

Other staff and workers than 50 TEPCO employees, who are engaged in water injection operation, have been evacuated.”[/b]...

...IN none of the reports is it concretely stated that fires were composed of burning of fuel rods. However, the clear conclusion gained from reading the reports is that regardless of what was burning, the fuel rods were overheating, measured radiation showed an increase and radically changed procedures for people in a defined area around the NPP ie people had to stay indoors. The conclusion reasonably drawn from this is that there was immediate danger off site to people within a defined area....

[b][i][u]As of 4 p.m. today, when fire had been seen in the pool at reactor #4,[/u][/i][/b] a fact sheet dated yesterday from the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), which represents the nuclear industry, commented that:

There has been some speculation that, if the used fuel pool were completely drained, the zirconium cladding might ignite and a "zirconium fire" might occur. Studies performed by the Department of Energy indicate that it is virtually impossible to ignite zirconium tubing.

Since zirconium is presumably what was burning in the pools, ScienceInsider asked NEI for a reference to those studies. Spokesperson Steve Kerekes wrote in an e-mail response:

Just today we were made aware of additional analysis that leads us to amend that view. Without getting into the details of how or when, we acknowledge the potential in certain circumstances and should by now have changed the fact sheet you reference.

[b][i]Apologies[/i][/b] for not properly reflecting the latest scientific research in this area.

Turning to the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) we find this report:

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2011/s3164723.htm

Tuesday March 15, 2011, 18:10 hours. Headline “Explosion at No 4 Fukushima Reactor” MARK COLVIN: The Fukushima nuclear disaster has moved up the ladder from the third-worst civilian nuclear accident in history to the second, now behind only Chernobyl. With explosions at three of the plant’s reactors, [b][i][u]and now a fire in spent fuel at reactor number four[/u][/i][/b]; it’s now a good deal worse than the 1979 Three Mile Island disaster.

The International Atomic Energy Agency says radiation levels around the plant are now 400 millisieverts an hour. That means that every six minutes eight times as much radiation are spewing out as nuclear workers are normally supposed to absorb in a year.

And the authorities are getting no help from the elements. Instead of blowing east and out to sea, as on most days, the smoke from the burning nuclear fuel is drifting south. About halfway to Tokyo at Utsunomiya, radiation is registering 33 times normal, still not a serious threat to health if things get better soon.

In the capital itself the level is less, 23 times normal. Earlier, the prime minister Naoto Kan briefly addressed the nation on television pleading for calm. …”

The Japanese people were, to my eyes, calm. It was the nuclear industry which was in panic.

[b][i][u]However the report from the ABC defines what was “on fire”. It was the fuel rods.[/u][/i][/b]

[snip]
In another article, the New York Times did provide information of great value. Information which few others, if any, provided at the same time.

On 5 April 2011, the New York Times published a piece which cited a confidential NRC report on the events at Fukushima Diiachi.

U.S. Sees Array of New Threats at Japan’s Nuclear Plant
By JAMES GLANZ and WILLIAM J. BROAD
Published: April 5, 2011 New York Times

“United States government engineers sent to help with the crisis in Japan are warning that the troubled nuclear plant there is facing a wide array of fresh threats that could persist indefinitely, and that in some cases are expected to increase as a result of the very measures being taken to keep the plant stable, according to a confidential assessment prepared by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

…[b][i][u].The document also suggests that fragments or particles of nuclear fuel from spent fuel pools above the reactors were blown “up to one mile from the units,” and that pieces of highly radioactive material fell between two units and had to be “bulldozed over,” presumably to protect workers at the site. The ejection of nuclear material, which may have occurred during one of the earlier hydrogen explosions, may indicate more extensive damage to the extremely radioactive pools than previously disclosed.”[/u][/i][/b]

[b][i][u]The rapid oxidation of zirconium in air and water releases amounts of hydrogen which explodes with terrible force. This process was ongoing in spent fuel pool 4 and there is no need to invoke hydrogen from reactor 3 in this regard. The spent fuel pool was over heating as admitted by JAIF. Thus, containing the entire fresh fuel from the recently emptied reactor 4, was producing and releasing hydrogen gas. And it exploded. Destroying containment.[/u][/i][/b]

[snip]
There are a number of people who maintain that there was no fire or fires in any of the spent fuel pools. The NRC maintained at the time that the spent fuel pool at reactor 4 was empty. The Japanese authorities deny this. However, The Japan Atomic Industry Forum reports that the water level in that fuel pool was low and that the fuel rods in the pool were overheating.

I bear in mind the basic process of “fire” in a reactive metal. It is rapid oxidation which may or may not be accompanied by a flame. What defines a “fire” in an ordinary sense – the flame – may be totally absent or sporadically present in the case of a reactive metal.

In the case of fuel rods two things are relevant: the integrity of the zircalloy cladding and the temperature of the zircalloy. For it is the temperature that seems to determine the point at which hydrogen is liberated from water and air and the rate it is liberated. The fuel rods were overheating in fuel pool 4 and hydrogen was being generated.

[end snip]

[snip]

What was the response of the Japanese governmental to the fires in the spent fuel pool 4 in March 2011?

To answer that question, I refer to “Stars and Stripes”, which provides a round of sources in relation the events. http://www.stripes.com/news/up-to-the-minute-1.137684

“4:20 p.m. Tuesday local Tokyo time, source: Associated Press:

High levels of radiation leaked from a crippled nuclear plant in tsunami-ravaged northeastern Japan after a third reactor was rocked by an explosion Tuesday [b][i][u]and a fourth caught fire in a dramatic escalation of the 4-day-old catastrophe.[/u][/i][/b] The government warned 140,000 people nearby to stay indoors to avoid exposure.

Tokyo also reported slightly elevated radiation levels, but officials said the increase was too small to threaten the 39 million people in and around the capital, about 170 miles away.

12:30 p.m. Stars and Stripes reporter – Tim Wightman

[end snip]

[snip]
On March 15 2011 TEPCO issued a Press Release regarding the fire in the reactor 4 building as follows:

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/11031504-e.html

The report reads as follows:

“Press Release (Mar 15,2011)
Damage to the Unit 4 Nuclear Reactor Building at Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station

At approximately 6:00am, a loud explosion was heard from within the
power station. Afterwards, it was confirmed that the 4th floor rooftop
area of the Unit 4 Nuclear Reactor Building had sustained damage.

After usage, fuel is stored in a pool designated for spent fuel.

Plant conditions as well as potential outside radiation effects are
currently under investigation.

TEPCO, along with other involved organizations, is doing its best to
contain the situation. Simultaneously, the surrounding environment is
being kept under constant surveillance. “

The following link is to the IAEA Fukushima Nuclear Accident Update page for 15 March 2011 : http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/2011/fukushima150311.html

The report is a record of the findgins and reports of the IAEA and in relation to the fire, the IAEA states the following:

“A fire at Unit 4 occurred on 14 March 23:54 UTC and lasted two hours. The IAEA is seeking clarification on the nature and consequences of the fire.”

On the same day, in the midst of disagreement between the NRC and the Japanese authorities (in which NRC viewed with alarm the water level of the spent fuel pool 4), the IAEA issued its alert to member governments. [b][i][u]The alert describes the fuel pool fire in spent fuel pool 4. This document is only known due to an FOIA release in the United States.[/u][/i][/b] The next day the IAEA Fukushima Nuclear Accident Update report for 16 March 2011 at http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/2011/fukushima160311.html

[end snip]

[snip]

A reader who wishes to remain unkown, has contributed the following information. He writes:

“I found this TV news report by Tim Maguire of Associated Press, which uses NHK footage with text superimposed in Japanese concerning Unit 4. The clip was uploaded to AP’s channel on YouTube, 15 March 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWVEhjl53I8:

“A new fire has broken out at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant one day after the facility admitted a burst of radiation that left the government struggling to contain the spiralling crisis.

[b][i][u]“The latest blaze happened early Wednesday morning, local time, in the number 4 unit.[/u][/i][/b]

“The plant’s operator says the fire occurred in the outer housing of that unit’s containment vessel – but it’s not clear what caused the fire.

[b][i][u]“Tuesday, a fire broke out in the same reactor’s fuel storage pond – that’s an area where used nuclear fuel is kept cool – and radioactivity was released into the atmosphere.[/u][/i][/b]

“Tokyo electric power said the new blaze erupted early Wednesday because the initial fire had not been fully extinguished, and firefighters were trying to put it out.” Associated Press.

[end snip]

[snip]

Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi_units_4,_5_and_6#Explosion states the following:

“At approximately 06:00 JST on 15 March, an explosion damaged the 4th floor rooftop area of the Unit 4 reactor as well as part of the adjacent Unit 3.[12][13] The explosion is thought to be caused by the ignition of hydrogen that had accumulated near the spent fuel pond, the hydrogen was initially thought to have come from the stored fuel rods, but later, TEPCO believed the hydrogen came from Unit 3.[14] Later reports from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission speculated that fuel could have been ejected from the Unit 4 spent fuel pond during this explosion.[15] Later on the morning of 15 March, at 09:40, the Unit 4 spent fuel pool caught fire, likely releasing radioactive contamination from the fuel stored there.[16][17] TEPCO said workers extinguished the fire by 12:00.[18][19] As radiation levels rose, some of the employees still at the plant were evacuated.[20] On the morning of 15 March, Secretary Edano announced that according to the TEPCO, radiation dose equivalent rates measured from the Unit 4 reached 100 mSv/h.[21][22] Edano said there was no continued release of “high radiation”.[23]

Japan’s nuclear safety agency NISA reported two holes, each 8 meters square, or 64 m² (690 sq ft), in a wall of the outer building of Unit 4 after the explosion.[24] At 17:48 it was reported that water in the spent fuel pool might be boiling.[25][26] By 21:13 on 15 March, radiation inside the Unit 4 control room prevented workers from staying there permanently.[27] Seventy staff remained at the plant, while 800 had been evacuated.[28] By 22:30, TEPCO was reportedly unable to pour water into the spent fuel pool.[4] By 22:50, the company was considering using helicopters to drop water,[28][29] but this was postponed because of concerns over safety and effectiveness, and the use of high-pressure fire hoses was considered instead.[30]

[b][i][u]A fire was discovered at 05:45 JST on 16 March in the northwest corner of the reactor building by a worker taking batteries to the central control room of Unit 4.[/u][/i][/b][31][32] This was reported to the authorities, but on further inspection at 06:15 no fire was found. Other reports stated that the fire was under control.[33] At 11:57, TEPCO released a photograph showing “a large portion of the building’s outer wall has collapsed”.[34] Technicians considered spraying boric acid on the building from a helicopter.[35][36]” The source links to the piece are interesting.

[end snip]

[snip]

[b][i][u]The International Atomic Energy Agency did confirm that the fire had taken place in the used fuel storage pool. [/u][/i][/b]

The Japan Atomic Industry Forum’s status report said the water was being supplied to make up for low levels.

Similar to the need to cool fuel in the reactor core, used fuel assemblies in cooling ponds require a covering of water to remove decay heat. The main differences being the amount of decay heat to be removed decreases exponentially with time and that fuel ponds are much less of an enclosed space than a reactor vessel. At the same time, ponds may contain several years of fuel.

JAIF reported that temperatures in the cooling ponds at units 5 and 6 are increasing, but the reason for this is not yet available.”

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News end quote.

[end snip]

(link at source)

[snip]

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/14/japan.nuclear.reactors/index.html?hpt=T1 Radiation levels spike at Japanese nuclear plant
By the CNN Wire Staff
March 15, 2011 — Updated 0316 GMT (1116 HKT) Tokyo (CNN) — Japanese authorities trying to stave off meltdowns at an earthquake-damaged nuclear power plant reported more grim news Tuesday as radiation levels soared following another explosion at an overheating reactor.

The risk of further releases of radioactive material from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant remains “very high,” Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Tuesday. In addition to an explosion at the No. 2 reactor, [b][i][u]the building housing the No. 4 unit — which had been shut down before Friday’s earthquake — was burning Tuesday morning, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano announced.[/u][/i][/b]

[end snip]

[snip]

The Fires in Spent Fuel Pool Number 4, Fukushima-Diiachi
Posted on April 18, 2013 by puameliaclinic
Reblogged from Paul Langley's Nuclear History Blog:

Click to visit the original postClick to visit the original post
The Japan Atomic Industry Forum at http://www.jaif.or.jp/english/fukushima/plantstatus201103.html provides links to its "Reactor Status and Major Events Update - NPPs in Fukushima (Estimated by JAIF) March 2011". Earliest date provided being Update Number 2, Tuesday March 15 2011 at 10.30 hours.